Jo Sinclair was an American-Jewish novelist whose works explored the repercussions of oppression in many forms: self-denial and self-destruction, antisemitism and Jewish self-hatred, repression of women’s sexual energy and sexual orientation, racism and the internalization of prejudice, poverty, and other forms of marginalization. Her work looked to self-knowledge as a means of emerging from one’s internalized ghetto.
Lesbians and women’s same gender-loving has a long history in Jewish life, dating back to ancient times. Since the 1980s, particularly in the United States, Jewish lesbian thinking and activism has become a part of all facets of Jewish life.
Literature by American Jewish women reflects historical trends in American Jewish life and indicates the changing issues facing writers who worked to position themselves as Americans, Jews, and women.
